Keywords

Research group(s)

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

My research interests lie in the principles of extravillous trophoblast (EVT) differentiation and function. In addition, my group focusses on immunological aspects during pregnancy. We currently have four main areas of research:

- Polyploidization and gene copy number variations in EVTs of normal and complete v mole placentas;

To conduct my research, I take advantage of various primary human model systems allowing a detailed study of EVT differentiation as these in vitro systems display similar gene expression patterns to those noticed in vivo.

We are currently interested to define whether transcriptional and phenotypical variations within invasive EVTs are due to environmental changes controlled by maternal decidual cells or whether EVTs divide into different subpopulations. To this end, we aim to perform single-cell RNA-seq of various trophoblast populations isolated from individual patients. Finally, I am interested to determine placenta-specific, EVT-enriched secreted factors with the potential to serve as prognostic marker signatures to predict placental pathologies during early pregnancy.